Last week in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held in favor of employers in a case that may push an increasing number of companies to use mandatory arbitration agreements with their employees. Arbitration agreements in...more
5/29/2018
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Epic Systems Corp v Lewis ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
SCOTUS
Many legal observers have predicted that last week’s Supreme Court decision in the Lewis case will prompt more employers to begin requiring that employees sign mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment....more
As with life in general, sometimes it’s best for a manager to keep frustrations over a work situation to himself or herself. This advice was confirmed in a recent decision from the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, when a...more
We typically avoid reporting on cases that involve procedural issues primarily of interest to trial lawyers. However, once in a while, a procedural decision can have significant impacts on how employers structure their human...more
In practice, employers have little difficulty accommodating most requests for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If an employee requests a standing desk or short breaks to monitor blood glucose,...more
The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees an entitlement of up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave. The employer cannot require the employee to work during this time, and insistence by the employer that the...more
When a current employee develops a disabling medical condition, employers are frequently faced with Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation requests that would fundamentally alter the way that the job has been...more
The legal line between race and national origin discrimination claims continues to fade as federal courts take an increasingly expansive definition of the term “race.” Last month in an unpublished decision, the Fourth Circuit...more
With all of the publicity over the Republican assumption of control of the National Labor Relations Board, employers could be excused if they assumed that all of the prior board’s decisions were now open for review and...more
Disparate impact discrimination claims involve allegations of bias based not on intentional conduct, but rather otherwise neutral policies that have a statistically significant negative result with respect to persons in a...more
As we previously reported, the recent federal budget legislation includes a new amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act that resolves a dispute over tip pooling practices. The law overrules a 2011 Department of Labor...more
The line between volunteer and unpaid labor can be difficult to distinguish. When do people freely agree to donate their time and services, and when are they persuaded or even coerced to do so?...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a new fact sheet explaining the applicability of overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act to occupations in higher education....more
Last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division announced that it would again begin issuing opinion letters with regard to questions about wage payment practices. Many employers suspected that the agency ceased...more
Like most states, the North Carolina Trade Secrets Protection Act prohibits individuals or businesses from misappropriating or misusing certain confidential business information belonging to someone else. However, not all...more
When a buyer considers acquiring the assets of a unionized employer, the union’s status post-acquisition often becomes an important business consideration for pursuing the deal. In most situations, the buyer incorporates...more
Every lawyer learns in their first year of law school’s Constitutional Law class that the First Amendment does not shield people from the consequences of their statements. Free speech guarantees only prohibit the government...more
Over the past several years, a number of states have passed or considered legislation that prohibits employers from using an applicant’s prior salary history when setting incoming pay rates. The legislation is based on a...more
Last year, we reported a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision establishing a rule that leave of more than a few weeks in duration falls outside employers’ reasonable accommodation obligations under the Americans with...more
4/13/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Failure to Accommodate ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Medical Leave ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Undue Hardship ,
Wrongful Termination
Employers found to have committed repeat or willful violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards are subject to citation penalties of 10 times those for ordinary violations, and in some cases...more
4/11/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appeals ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
OSHA ,
Personal Knowledge ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reckless Disregard ,
Supervisors ,
Willful Violations ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wrongful Death
Last Monday in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that automotive service advisors fall within the Fair Labor Standards Act’s statutory overtime exemption applicable to car salespersons and mechanics. This decision...more
4/9/2018
/ Appeals ,
Car Dealerships ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Legislative History ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Over-Time ,
Patent Litigation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Service Advisors ,
Statutory Construction Test ,
Wage and Hour
We frequently receive questions from employers faced with employees who have worked unauthorized overtime and who demand payment for hours the employer says it neither requested nor needed. The employer asks whether the...more
In order to prove disparate treatment discrimination under federal employment laws, plaintiffs must demonstrate that the decision-maker in an adverse action was at least partially motivated by discriminatory intent. Federal...more
Last month, Washington became the first state to adopt a law that prohibits enforcement of confidential information agreements (or NDAs) that prohibit employees from discussing or disclosing sexual harassment issues. The new...more
The federal Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently announced a six-month self-audit pilot program intended to allow employers to review and correct overtime and minimum wage violations. The Payroll Audit...more